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Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968)
American Civil Rights Movement | Key events in the civil rights movement. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education | U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously to strike down segregation in schools, reversing Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) that allowed the doctrine of "seperate but equal." NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall successfully argues the case before the court and would one day become the first African American Supreme Court Justice -
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat.
NAACP member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat at the front of the "colored section" of the bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest, the African American community of Montgomery, Alabama launches a bus boycott that will last more than a year. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will play a leading role in the success of the boycott. -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded
Southern Christian Leadership Conference - A major organization in the struggle for civil rights progress, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is made the first President. -
James Meredith enrolls at the University of Mississippi
James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. President Kennedy sends in the National Guard after violence and riots prevent Meredith from enrolling initially. -
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Letter from Birmingham Jail - Stanford University Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested in Birmingham, Alabama and writes one of the most famous essays in American History. -
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom | Peaceful march on Washington, D.C. to demonstrate for civil rights legislation and jobs. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will give one of the most famous political speaches in American History, 'I Have a Dream." -
Birmingham Church Bombings
Four young girls are killed when their church is bombed while they are attending their Sunday School class at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Riots break out in Birmingham and two more African American youths are murdered. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the most sweeping civil rights legislation since reconstruction, the law prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is invited to the signing and given one of the pens used by President Johnson to sign the legislation -
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Killed in Memphis, Tennessee
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots in major cities erupt across the United States.
